Canada After Dark, a two-day summit exploring the future of nighttime economies, was held in Ottawa this week, with more than 150 professionals in the nightlife and music industries gathering at the National Arts Centre Wednesday and Thursday.
The event is part of the city’s first Capital Music Week and was co-presented by the City of Ottawa’s Nightlife Office and the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition.
On Wednesday, a panel of nightlife stakeholders from Canadian cities was convened with the goal of sharing best practices and experiences.
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Here are five issues that were mentioned that could be applicable to Ottawa as the city seeks to grow its nighttime economy.
Allow artists to use vacant commercial spaces
Maud Salvi, executive and artistic director of the Sled Island Festival in Calgary, explained that that city has lost many of its music venues and artistic spaces over the past few years.
At 1.4 million residents, Calgary’s population is close to that of Ottawa and cultural spaces remain “few and far between,” she said. Also, since Calgary is a sprawling city with low population density, most of the nightlife infrastructure is located in the downtown core.
To help combat the problem, Salvi said that in 2023 Calgary championed a “meanwhile lease” program, which makes vacant commercial spaces temporarily available to artists at a lower cost.
While Salvi sees the program as a step forward for artists, she said there is still work to be done, especially as artists get limited notice before they must vacate the space.
“Once artists activate a space, that space becomes more enticing to corporate interests. I really hope that we’re going to see a development of that program with maybe a little bit more insurance for the arts organization. There could perhaps be a six-month buffer … I think they give you a maximum of 30 days,” she said.
Make sure residential development can live beside music venues
John Weisz, executive director of Les Scènes de musiques alternatives du Québec and president of Indie Montreal, said a common issue in Montreal is the need to protect smaller entertainment venues.
He pointed to an “agent of change principle,” which is “when you make a change to the neighbourhood and the infrastructure, you’re responsible for mitigating the consequences for that change.”
Last September, Montreal music venue La Tulipe closed its doors after noise complaints coming from residents of the residential space upstairs.
“In this context, if you’re a real estate developer and you put condos up next to a venue, you have to make sure that those condos are soundproofed. It’s not solely on the venue to make sure that they soundproof their walls,” Weisz said.
He said that in Toronto there is often an acknowledgement in contracts of sale stating that the resident is close to a music venue and may be subjected to more noise.
Get creative with transit options
In Calgary, much like in Ottawa, residents in more rural parts of the city have a difficult time getting to the city centre to enjoy nightlife, Salvi said.
She explained that she got in touch with Calgary Transit, asking if it were possible to extend transit operating hours to accommodate her festival’s events. However, the transit authority said the increase in ridership wouldn’t justify the cost.
As a result, Salvi said the festival has been championing other sustainable solutions to get around such as cycling.
“We took it upon ourselves to install temporary bike racks in front of all of our major venues since year one of the festival. Over the years, some of those bike racks have become permanent fixtures, either installed by the city or paid for by the property owners,” she said.
Zach Atkinson, who owns Fredericton music venue The Cap, said that city has made progress when it comes to reliable and safe transportation after dark with a Safe Ride program operated by the provincial liquor corporation.
“It’s a mix of the public transit plus they pull out school buses and run routes from downtown to certain neighbourhoods,” he said.
Make sure residents know what’s going on
Atkinson also said that Fredericton is brimming with talented people and has the space to accommodate them, but lacks the marketing and media presence to make sure residents know what’s going on in their city.
“It’s such a challenge when you’re literally tearing your hair out, trying to get people to engage and to convert them to a ticket-buyer,” Atkinson said.
Part of Ottawa’s Nightlife Economy Action Plan focuses on creating a digital resource to bring together information on the city’s events as well as resources on related by-laws, training and more.
Create a curated experience that speaks to younger generations
Ali Shafaee, regional vice-president of Live Nation Canada and founder of Ottawa’s Escapade Music Festival, said the nightlife industry is feeling the squeeze from a lack of engagement from gen Z.
“That generation essentially got glued to their phones and didn’t know anything about going out or ‘living life,’” he said, adding the economy has further discouraged young people from going out.
The way to win over the younger generations is to curate an experience rather than just lining up artist after artist, he said. “We have spent the last few years not only building an experience but to teach that younger generation what an experience really is.”
As the founder of Escapade, Shafaee said he has rejected sponsors that weren’t able to commit to curating an experience for the consumer. “There was a lot of time where we took a partner that potentially was less money but was building us an experience that was really driving engagement for that consumer when they were there.”
